


Miss You

by 852_Prospect_Archivist



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: First Times, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 00:02:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/791703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/852_Prospect_Archivist/pseuds/852_Prospect_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An impending absence and hearts grow fonder...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Miss You

**Author's Note:**

> With much thanks to Anne and Diana. Comments welcome at cineld@yahoo.com

## Miss You

by Cinel Durant

Author's disclaimer: Disclaimer: These characters belong to PetFly Productions and UPN. No profit intended or infringement intended -- just a little honest adoration.

* * *

Miss You  
by Cinel Durant  
c.2001 

"Spill it, Chief." 

"Jim, don't make me. It's so embarrassing." He was shifting from foot to foot, rubbing the sole of one foot over the instep of the other. 

"Nevertheless, you're standing there looking like I just kicked your dog, stole your favorite artifact, and told you Santa Claus didn't really exist. What is it?" 

The younger man swallowed and gritted his teeth. This was just the grilling he'd hoped to avoid. 

"I'm going to miss you, Jim." 

"I'm going to miss you, too, Blair." 

The breath Blair released seeped out slowly. Just like that. Just like that and it was over. 

"That's it? No teasing, no shrugging it off, no digs? That's it?" 

Jim just looked at him, and Blair could see several unsaid things pass behind his eyes. Jim settled for the simple answer, however. 

"That's it, Blair." 

'Blair.' There it was again, sounding good again. What else was Jim going to make sound good? Whatever it was, Blair was ready to oblige him. 

"Come here." The command was full of authority, but the need lacing it was what Blair ultimately reacted to. When there weren't bullets flying, he didn't pay the same attention to 'Jim Ellison, the commander'. But that need, the frankness of it, well, that just undid him and turned him into a willing instrument for whatever Jim had in mind. He slid closer. 

The air was fading fast between them, and then with a lurch, he heard Jim again and the softness underlying the dictate. He was no match for Jim's vulnerability, not this plainly given, and he closed the gap. 

He didn't need to know specific intent, or take his cue from the gentle nuzzling of his hair, or even consider how tightly his arms were locked around the torso that was more often shield than frontier. Not when the only other pair of arms in the room were crossed behind his back, clutching him in a hold he didn't want to leave. 

None of that mattered. Especially when Jim spoke again. 

"I'll miss the noises that you fill the loft with in the morning; they won't be with me in the hotel room. And wondering how much longer you're going to take in the shower. I'll miss the way you make the coffee the way I like it, and telling you not to forget your keys." 

These were all things Blair knew they shared. 

"There's taking that first deep breath in the morning, and smelling the warmth of sleep around you, and guessing which shampoo you're going to use. I'll miss the small thrill that happens whenever I come downstairs to find you've got on something blue, and tripping over something of yours between the door and the kitchen or the stairs. It's all you, Blair." 

These were things he'd only imagined. 

"I didn't know, Jim. I thought all your griping was for real." 

"Blair. What? You forget how humans act when they're interested in each other?" 

"You telling me that you've been acting out the equivalent of putting gum in my chair?" 

"Well, maybe not that. But didn't you notice how little actual heat or anger there is anymore when I get on you about stuff around the loft?" 

"Guess I missed it." 

"And that's why I'm the detective, Chief." 

"No fair, Jim. You can hear my heart going a mile a minute, smell my . . . well, whatever you can smell. Anyway, you can just _tell_." 

"You're right, I can. But it didn't need my senses this time." 

"You think you know how I feel?" Blair asked uneasily. 

"No, I _know_ I know how you feel." 

"How do you figure?" 

"It's about friendship, you said. And that was true enough. But there were the words and then there was what was behind them, Chief." 

"All this time I thought I was playing it cool." 

"You were. You did. Just not cool enough." 

"I'm not following you." 

"Well, you're good at poker because you want to be. But I don't think you really wanted to hide this from me. It was there to see, and I knew what to look for." 

Blair frowned. 

"In your eyes. I saw us in your eyes; it's the way you look at me. And I'm going to miss that." Jim sighed. "Why do the most important conversations always come up when you don't have time to finish them?" 

"What time is your flight?" 

"Three." 

"You'd better get going." 

"Guess I'd better. But not without this." 

"Not without . . .?" 

Jim's lips were warm and attentive, catching up Blair and melting the barriers until they shared a single wet pursuit, Blair's tongue seeking an answering warmth despite his entire body being locked close, then closer, as Jim bent over him. With a great deal of effort -- or some instinctive cue to back away from an edge there wasn't time to explore, or define -- they listed far enough away from each other to think. But then Jim snuggled them together and breathed them in deeply and unashamedly. 

"I don't know what I was afraid of, Jim." 

"The same thing I was. The same thing anyone would be afraid of. But you don't have to be afraid, Chief. We're okay." 

Blair made a sound of disbelief. "You think this is _okay_?" 

"Well, no. But if I stop to think about what it really is I'm never going to get on that plane. So for now, it's 'okay'. Got it?" 

"Got it." He paused, watching Jim move. "Jim?" 

The detective bent for his bag and then turned back towards his partner. 

"Come home to me." 

A fresh intimacy washed over both of them, and Blair took Jim's sharp intake of air as the best indicator yet of what the three days apart would mean to him. 

"Don't I always?" Jim asked, his voice thick. 

"Not like this." 

"No, I guess not." 

Jim retraced his steps until he was before Blair again, and brushed his fingers against Blair's cheek, hesitating a long moment before retreating. 

At the door, he promised again and was gone. 

~End~ 


End file.
